Politics

  Tokyo /AFP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he wants US troops out of his country in the next two years and is willing to scrap defence pacts with longtime ally Washington if necessary. The comments follow a series of anti-American tirades by the firebrand leader, who has repeatedly attacked the US while cosying up to Beijing, upending ...

Oslo / AFP Russia criticised plans to deploy more than 300 American troops in Norway, saying it would do nothing to make northern Europe safer. Norway announced on Monday that 330 US Marines, to be stationed on rotation around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Russian border, will be engaged in training and manoeuvres from January 2017. The announcement comes ...

  Caracas /AFP Venezuela’s political rivals faced a test of strength on Wednesday, with the opposition vowing mass street protests as President Nicolas Maduro resists efforts to drive him from power. The socialist president and center-right-dominated opposition accuse each other of mounting a “coup” in a volatile country rich in oil but short of food. The crisis prompted Pope Francis ...

  Moscow/ AFP A Ukrainian pilot released from a Russian prison in May was in Moscow on Wednesday to throw her support behind two compatriots jailed in Russia, her lawyer said. This is the first time Nadiya Savchenko, who was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in absentia during her detention, has visited since her release in a prisoner swap. Savchenko ...

Calais / AFP Workers were set to begin demolishing the notorious Calais “Jungle” camp on Tuesday as a second batch of migrants boarded buses under a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement. More than 1,900 left the slum on Monday, ahead of work to tear down the makeshift shelters and eateries in the camp that has become a symbol of ...

  Erfurt / AFP German police on Tuesday raided apartments across five states in a probe against 14 Chechen asylum seekers over suspected financing of terrorist groups and links to the IS organisation. The raids were part of a running investigation which began last year into a 28-year-old Russian of Chechen origin who is suspected of “preparing an act of ...

  Kampala / AFP Two Ugandans were arrested outside the US Embassy in Kampala on Tuesday morning while taking part in a demonstration of support for US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Carrying placards, one emblazoned with the slogan “A vote for Trump is a vote against African dictatorship!”, the two men attempted to enter the US embassy grounds in the ...

  Tokyo / AFP President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged foreign businesses in the Philippines worried about his deadly drug war to “pack up and leave”, as he launched another anti-American tirade before flying to Japan to attract investments. Duterte voiced outrage at comments made the previous day by the top US envoy to Asia that his fiery rhetoric and crime ...

  Brussels / AFP NATO’s commitment to defend all allies against any threat is “unconditional” and irrespective of whether they pay their dues, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. Asked his view of remarks by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that, should he win, US commitment would depend on members keeping up with their contributions, Stoltenberg stressed first ...

  Gold Coast / AFP Two women and two men were killed at a theme park on Australia’s popular Gold Coast on Tuesday, police said, with witnesses describing how “everyone was screaming” after a raft apparently flipped on a water ride. Queensland police said the four victims died on the Thunder River Rapids ride at the Dreamworld park, as Prime Minister ...